THUNDER BAY — The proposed 2024 Thunder Bay Police Service operating budget coming with an increase of $2.4 million over last year has some board members looking for savings, including floating the idea of reducing LCBO hours to cut down calls for service.
The Thunder Bay Police Services Board passed a motion approving the proposed 2024 operating and capital budget for the police service.
The total police service operating budget for 2024 comes in at $54.5 million, an increase of $2.36 million over last year, or approximately 4.5 per cent.
“At a time when policing costs are rising across Ontario, the 2024 budget represents an appropriate balance in addressing key recommendations from past reports, supporting the needs of the Thunder Bay Police Service, and improving public safety, while respecting the fiscal challenges facing the municipality,” said police services board vice-chair Denise Baxter.
“We as a Board, have an obligation to ensure that the budgets we put forward to Council allows the Service to be able to adequately respond to the needs of the community.”
Some of the key factors driving the increase are the continued expansion of full-time positions within the service from 2023 and ongoing WSIB expenses.
In 2023, there were 380 full-time equivalent members employed by the police service. That number will increase to 382 in 2024 with an associated cost of $1.1 million.
The new positions include a second deputy chief, a human resources director, a financial services civilian, and a freedom of information coordinator.
These new positions are offset by the elimination of one inspector and the legal counsel position.
The proposed operating budget also sees an increase in WSIB salary advances for members on long-term absences and associated costs for health care that is just under $1 million.
Other costs include an increase of $369,000 for materials and $390,000 for purchased services.
The operating budget does include $550,000 in net revenues from the Prisoner Transportation and Court Security Grant and recovery from the Oliver Paipoonge policing contract.
The proposed 2024 capital budget includes a $2.82 million gross, up from $2.2 million in 2023. The increase is related to costs associated with information technology at approximately $400,000 and facility space needs at approximately $300,000.
During the board meeting on Tuesday, Thunder Bay Mayor Ken Boshcoff raised the issue of police resources being used for calls relating to mental health and addiction issues, which includes officers attending at the hospital for long periods of time.
“What options are being discussed provincially or nationally in terms of what we can do, such as the hospital itself having its protective service division so our officers can drop someone off and go back to protecting the public?” Boshcoff asked.
Deputy police chief Ryan Hughes said there are ongoing discussions with the hospital to address these issues, including an upcoming meeting with hospital officials on possible software that can link the two agencies together to speed up the process of dealing with individuals suffering a medical or mental health crisis.
But costs associated with officers attending at the hospital is not the only thing driving the budget increases.
“Unfortunately, we are seeing trends in violence and gun violence, substance abuse, addictions,” Hughes said. “A lot of it falls on policing. There are cutbacks in a lot of different agencies where they can’t attend to different agencies, which again then falls to policing and officers have to attend to deal with mental health issues and substance abuse issues.”
“It’s difficult because there is not a lot of money. I know policing costs go up. We are at the lower end of the province with our increase on the budget and we just try to keep making out with what we have to keep the community safe.”
Boshcoff also floated the idea of closing LCBO stores earlier in the day on Sundays, which he said is done in Sioux Lookout. LCBO stores in Sioux Lookout are actually closed all day on Sundays and Mondays.
But Boshcoff, who said he is grasping at straws in order to get costs down, said something like reducing hours at the LCBO could cut down calls for service for police relating to things like vandalism, break and enters, and transporting individuals to the hospital.
“It’s not going to be perfect, it’s not going to be huge, it may not be noticeable to some, but it will be in the emergency room, it will be by ambulance, and it will be to police,” Boshcoff said.
“The public purse can only stand so much and we have to be cognizant of that. But at the same time, criminals are taking advantage of good people and we have to be on the ball.”
Hughes said these are all options the police service can explore going forward.
“We will have to have meetings with the LCBO regarding avenues to take to assist with the policing with the LCBO,” he said. “That is for future discussions. I don’t know what the reactions would be to closing or the public’s reaction to closing earlier.”
With respect to the addition of a second deputy chief, Hughes said it is based on recommendations from several expert reports looking into the Thunder Bay Police Service and other police services of a similar size have two deputy chiefs.
But Hughes added the reduction of five full-time inspectors to four could have an impact on workloads that would need to be monitored.
“The second deputy chief should take a bit of that workload. But with those four inspectors, that is something we will have to assess,” Hughes said. “If it is a heavy workload, then both the deputy chiefs and the new chief would probably have to take on some of the workload to help them out. If it is a taxing burden on the inspectors, we would have to look at another inspector in the future.”
The proposed 2024 operating and capital budgets for the Thunder Bay Police Service will be voted on by Thunder Bay city council in early 2024 during budget deliberations.
